Home-seekers thronged the Credai property fair on Sunday, the concluding day. Photograph by Aranya Sen

After Singapore and Indonesia, it?s now Germany, which is set to throw its hat into the city's buzzing real estate ring.

A number of leading German construction and development firms, sweating under the collar in the face of dwindling business back home, have started looking towards Calcutta, going by the ?serious homework? being undertaken on the brick-and-mortar matrix here.

?With GDP growth at a pathetic 1.7 per cent and unemployment touching five million, there?s hardly any new development on the real estate front in Germany now,? Mahadeva Vasudevan, director, AP Handels & Vertriebs GmbH, a top trading company based in Bremen, north Germany, told Metro on Sunday.

Vasudevan was in town on a reconnoitre mission to gather inputs on Calcutta?s real estate scenario for the market leaders back home. He also attended the property fair at the Ice Skating Rink organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers? Associations of India (Credai), Bengal chapter, showcasing 200 new projects under one roof.

?Apart from my own company, all the big guys back home like Hoch & Tief, Interhomes, Gewoba and Brebau, are watching, with most open to collaboration possibilities. We plan to harness relevant details of real estate development trends in Calcutta to do a comprehensive presentation before them,? Vasudevan added.

Credai-Bengal is confident this interaction is a great starting point, and will translate into concrete business for the city soon. ?With FDI in real estate now flagged off, we are expecting several joint-venture projects with German companies to take off in the next year,? said the chapter's honorary secretary Pradip Kumar Chopra.

The rules stipulate that any overseas firm willing to come in, must invest a minimum of $ 5 million (around 3.9 million euros). ?That's peanuts for most of these large German construction and real estate companies. Besides, top banks like Deutsche Bank, Dresner, KFW and Bremen Landesbank are all sitting on huge capital reserves and would love to park their funds in housing projects here,? said the official of the Bremen firm.

Enthused by German overtures, the local developers? forum has decided to approach the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce for carrying forward the bridge-building exercise. ?We have had inquiries from a clutch of German players pouring in, and many of them are keen to build in Calcutta through local alliances. If the chamber arranges for a structured German delegation to visit the city, the dialogue could strengthen,? said Chopra.

Credai?s property fair, organised by G.S. Marketing Associates, which concluded on Sunday, saw a fresh focus on the north and west of the city, with landbanks gradually drying up towards the south.

According to an official of the forum, the 30 per cent rise in fair footfall should ?generate sales of around 4,000 apartments?.